Bad Weekend for the Czechs (and Torres)

Tomas Rosicky and Petr Cech had absolute stinkers this weekend. The Arsenal midfielder probably thought he wouldn’t see much action on Saturday, named on the bench, but was introduced on 70 minutes. Arsenal were still leading 4-1 at the time at St James Park. A few minutes after coming on Tomas gave away possession in his own half, Barton crossed to Leon Best who thought he scored but was given offside. A closer inspection showed that Best was well onside, as our Czech friend Rosicky was playing statues at left back, leaving Best a mile onside, a lucky escape.

Rosicky was then at the centre of more controversy as Newcastle were awarded a penalty, a push in the back on Mike Williamson was seen as a foul and Newcastle made it 3-4. Quite what Rosicky was attempting when challenging Williamson like that, no one knows. Not content on gifting Newcastle a way back into this game, Rosicky then gave Barton a nudge in the back, and from the resulting free kick – you guessed it, Newcastle scored as the ball came back Tiote who slammed it home to make 4-4. An absolute horror show from the Czech captain.

Sundays game at Stamford Bridge was billed as Torres v Liverpool, Money v Loyalty, North v South. It would be typical that Torres first game in a blue shirt would be against Liverpool – seeing Torres in a Chelsea shirt was odd, like someone had photoshop-ed a picture. I had been dreading the game since the Stoke match in midweek, you always feared that Torres would come back to haunt Liverpool.

The team sheet had announced a forward line of Anelka, Drogba and Torres. A fearsome sight on paper, yet it was only Anelka who really stood out during the game. Much to my relief Torres was withdrawn for Kalou on 66 minutes – massive cheers rang around from the away fans and myself. During those 66 minutes Torres had only touched the ball 29 times – the least of any outfield player at the time.

But the game didn’t follow the script, you would have expected Torres to score the winner or new Liverpool signing Luis Suarez to come off the bench and be the hero. Instead, it was down to Chelsea’s frail defence and Petr Cech to gift Liverpool the opening their organisation and energy had deserved. Cech and Ivanovic looked like two players who had never met, as they made a complete mess of a low Steven Gerrard cross and Meierles steered it home. 1-0 Liverpool and Cech and Ivanovic were looking at each other for answers.

I just hope that we can move and forget this whole Torres drama, we need to concentrate on what we are doing and not other teams and players. All in all, it was a great weekend to a Liverpool fan, but not so great for the Czechs.